Hopes fade of panda mating at Edinburgh

Yang Guang and Tian Tian 'wrestled' but so far have failed to mate. Credit: Edinburgh Zoo

Hopes of a baby panda being born in the UK this year are fading after the country's only bears failed to mate for a second day despite "natural sparks" flying between them.

The clock is ticking for Yang Guang and Tian Tian to mate within a limited window of fertility.

Keepers at Edinburgh Zoo opened a "love tunnel" between the bears' enclosures after tests showed female panda Tian Tian had ovulated.

They met five times yesterday, and "several times" again this afternoon, but despite "natural sparks" flying between them, the pair failed to do the deed.

The pandas will have a final chance to mate later tonight but keepers were losing hope that Tian Tian would get pregnant this year.

They said the attempted couplings had been "immeasurable" for the bears because they were both sexually inexperienced.

Giant pandas Tian Tian (meaning Sweetie) and Yang Guang (Sunshine) arrived in Scotland from Ya'an reserve in Chengdu, China, on December 4 last year. They went on show to visitors for the first time on December 16.

An Edinburgh Zoo spokeswoman later said the pandas had met again twice on Wednesday evening and had come "closer than ever before" to mating, but again failed to do so.